The pages show pictures of the main characters and their seiyuus, with a bit of info about each seiyuu (age, previous roles).

Sukitte ii na yo is simply excellent shoujo, starring Kayano Ai and Sakurai Takahiro. Kayano is the ordinary girl who falls in love with the school's top player (Sakurai), who is nice to her and may like her for being different from all the other girls. Great performances by the two leads.Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai is Kyoto Animation's popular new moe showcase. Fukuyama Jun is as good as the lead, an ex-chuuni (sophomoric fantasist) who is glommed onto by a moe current chuuni (played by rising young voice Uchida Maaya, who was Rea in Sankarea). Also in the cast is popular seiyuu personality Uesaka Sumire, who dresses goth-loli and may be a bit of a chuuni herself.

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo is about a guy in a mixed dorm who is forced to look after a new girl student who is a brilliant artist, but so incapable in daily life that she can't even dress herself. It's a moe fanservice comedy that is slated for 24 episodes, and has more to it than just fanservice.

New star Matsuoka Yoshitsugu (Kirito in Sword Art Online) plays the male lead, with the brilliant and now ubiquitous Kayano Ai as the fey artist. Lots of good supporting actors, including Horie Yui, Toyoguchi Megumi, and Sakurai Takahiro (again). Former TV actress Nakatsu Mariko, and Takamori Natsumi (Misaki Mei in Another) round out the main cast.

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I really enjoy all three of these shows, and the amazing range of Kayano Ai in the last two seasons (from bubbly Muginami in Rinne no Lagrange to the arch Mayaka in Hyouka to the nearly silent Shiina in Sakurasou no Pet) is pretty astounding to me. It really hit me listening to her singing parts in the RnL and Hyouka ED's, with her lead in the second verse of Kimi ni Matsuwaru Mystery providing a nice counterpoint to Satomi Satou's soft quality in the first verse, and then comparing that to the chirpy, happy third verse of Jersey-bu Damashi. It's really hard to believe it's the same person.

hashi - Do you have any information about the artist / act ZAQ that did the OP and ED for Chuu2Koi and at least the ED for the Chuu2Koi Lite? Is ZAQ just the singer, or is it the whole band, given that they're listed as the writer as well. Whoever is singing has a good voice for pop and pop rock.

(and I say the ED, because while the TV ED is sung by the female stars of the show, the full song release is sung by ZAQ - and I like that version a little better)

Hashihime

The "Hashihime" or "Bridge Princesses," are characters in the novel The Tale of Genji (Genji Monogatari 源氏物語）. They are daughters of a disgraced prince, living alone with him in a small house at Uji, outside Kyoto. They are important characters in the last ten chapters of the novel.

The Genji can be considered the first real novel in the history of the world. It was written around 1000 AD by a Japanese court lady known as Lady Murasaki, or Murasaki Shikibu.

I think contemporary Japanese literature, including anime and manga, continues to preserve aspects of the Genji, among them sensitive psychological observation, a general passion for romance, and romantic interest in young girls. The main hero of the thousand-page novel, Prince Genji, had a number of present and former girlfriends living in his palace, and basically abducted his principal wife Murasaki when she was ten, marrying her when she was around 15.

notes

-- all Japanese names are written in Japanese order: surname first, given name second-- I claim no copyright on anything in this blog, unless otherwise stated